Further police warnings over telephone fraudsters

Police have issued an urgent warning to residents to be on guard against telephone fraudsters after three incidents in three days in which elderly victims lost a total of £13,000.

A man in his 80s at Leigh was tricked into handing over £5,000 on Tuesday March 18, a woman in her 70s lost £3,000 on Wednesday and an elderly man at Southend handed over £5,000 on Thursday.

In all cases the victims were contacted by a man claiming to be a Metropolitan Police fraud squad officer based at Hammersmith who said he was investigating fraud at their respective banks.

The trickster claimed that he needed a large sum to be withdrawn from the local branches of the bank so that the banknotes could be forensically examined.

Twenty four other people in the Rochford, Canvey and Southend areas were called by the tricksters since Tuesday but realised that their claims were a scam and contacted Essex Police.

More than 640 similar thefts and attempted thefts have been reported in Essex since the scam first came to light in January 2013, and similar crimes have been reported in the Met Police area and other counties.

More than 100 people in Essex have been tricked out of money and the total stolen is more than £350,000. Six people have been arrested in connection with the investigation.

Extensive publicity campaigns have been carried out across Essex to warn residents of the scam and although success thefts have reduced, elderly and vulnerable people are still falling for the scam.

DS Neil Hudson said: "These are despicable crimes being carried by thieves posing as police fraud officers, the very people they ought to be able to turn to and trust in exactly this sort of crime. Instead, they callously prey on the elderly and vulnerable and have no thought for how their victims might suffer from the loss of money that might have been saved over many years.

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"It is vital that whenever people receive this sort of call they should put the phone down and call us, but on another phone or mobile. Part of the con involves keeping people on the line while they pretend to transfer calls to police officers or bank officials.”

REMEMBER

• Police or bank officials would never call you by telephone you and ask for your full bank details or ask you to withdraw large sums of cash.

• If you think you have been a victim, call police FROM A DIFFERENT NUMBER.

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• If you don’t have another phone, use a neighbour’s, or wait five minutes before dialling 101 or 999 (if urgent).

Please contact any elderly relatives and friends to warn them of this scam.

Comments (2)

Is it a coincidence that "SCAM" and "SCUM" are very similar words?keith_l

Is it a coincidence that "SCAM" and "SCUM" are very similar words?

Score: 1

OMPITA [Intl] says...11:01am Fri 21 Mar 14

Can the banks not play a more proactive role in protecting their elderly customers who might be considered to be at a significantly greater risk of falling foul of this scam? Surely a gentle discreet word or two when such a person calls in to withdraw an unusually large amount wouldn’t go amiss. Granted it might perhaps ruffle the feathers of the odd one or two ‘hoity-toity old buzzards’, but that would be a small price to pay if in doing so it actually prevented a more deserving individual from being ruined. And equally importantly it might also enable the police to be alerted with the potential for the criminal to be arrested in the act. I’ve still got all (well most) of my marbles, but I for one would not be offended if the nice lady behind the counter called me “Dear” and leaned forward for a few whispered words of advice with me. Can’t wait ha ha!

Can the banks not play a more proactive role in protecting their elderly customers who might be considered to be at a significantly greater risk of falling foul of this scam?
Surely a gentle discreet word or two when such a person calls in to withdraw an unusually large amount wouldn’t go amiss.
Granted it might perhaps ruffle the feathers of the odd one or two ‘hoity-toity old buzzards’, but that would be a small price to pay if in doing so it actually prevented a more deserving individual from being ruined. And equally importantly it might also enable the police to be alerted with the potential for the criminal to be arrested in the act.
I’ve still got all (well most) of my marbles, but I for one would not be offended if the nice lady behind the counter called me “Dear” and leaned forward for a few whispered words of advice with me. Can’t wait ha ha!OMPITA [Intl]

Can the banks not play a more proactive role in protecting their elderly customers who might be considered to be at a significantly greater risk of falling foul of this scam? Surely a gentle discreet word or two when such a person calls in to withdraw an unusually large amount wouldn’t go amiss. Granted it might perhaps ruffle the feathers of the odd one or two ‘hoity-toity old buzzards’, but that would be a small price to pay if in doing so it actually prevented a more deserving individual from being ruined. And equally importantly it might also enable the police to be alerted with the potential for the criminal to be arrested in the act. I’ve still got all (well most) of my marbles, but I for one would not be offended if the nice lady behind the counter called me “Dear” and leaned forward for a few whispered words of advice with me. Can’t wait ha ha!

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